Cry For Me
by The Cheese Giblet
Summary: She had never cried before today. Never once had she shed a tear, reached out for a hand, or tarnished her reputation for a moment of solace. She always restrained the impulse to ask for help, storing the emotions inside, letting them build until she snapped. And when she did snap, he would be there to soothe her pain. He would be her shoulder to cry on when she needed one most.
1. Chapter 1

"XENA!"

"HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

Xena looked over as her comrade was ripped apart, broken in half like nothing more than a stalk of celery. She watched as the titan shoved the corpse into it's mouth, then turned her head to face forward, not looking back at the titan and whatever he may have forgotten to eat.

_Well there goes Stella._ She thought to herself.

In her world, it was nothing unusual for people to die without a moment's notice. _There was nothing different about her_

She kicked her horse in the rear, ordering it to go faster, to take her away from the inferno that would eventually lead her to her death. Not that she cared.

Xena Foster was known for being passive about death… and only death. In all other areas, she was extremely violent, antisocial, coldhearted, and mysterious. Nobody knew anything of her family, where she was from, or how she ended up in training. All they knew was that she showed up at training the first day. She excelled in everything, especially fighting. She was at the top of the 102nd training squad, yet surprised nobody with her choice to join the Scouting Legion. She didn't seem to have any intention of staying in the inner walls, so for her, it was just a case of why not.

There was no one scarier than Xena. If you so much as whispered in her direction, you had better be prepared for a trip to the hospital. Yet somehow, she managed to get away with little more than a lecture every time. Of course, her fellow soldiers had many theories as to why, none of them involving honesty. Everything about her was rebellious, from the way she tied her shoes, to her disdainful salute. She liked it that way.

Despite being vicious, Xena was actually quite pretty. She had long wavy hair the color of congealing blood **(that's maroon BTW) **that was almost always up in a high ponytail. Her eyes were a shade of royal blue that complimented her dark pink lips. She had a defined, slightly pointy nose that matched her slightly pointy jaw. She was quite tall: about 5'10, with extremely long arms and legs that used to get in the way.

Now, she pulled her blades out of their sheaths and launched herself forwards, relishing the exhilaration of bloodlust as she sized up the 5 titans surrounding her. She didn't have problems with her arms and legs anymore. From somewhere behind her, yells of protest from her captain and teammates could be heard. Those idiots probably didn't even know how to kill a titan! Ignoring their screams, she flew and spun, killing all 5 of them in less than 40 seconds. She couldn't wait to see her "team's" faces when she touched down. They weren't really her team, of course. They were just dead weight. However, if she was stuck with them, than that was okay with her, she guessed.

She landed back on her horse and the team dismounted for a rest.

"Foster! what did I tell you about going off on your own?! You could have killed yourself, or worse, us!" Squad Leader Forbes screamed.

"You don't look dead to me." Xena challenged, her face expressionless.

"That's not the point!" Forbes argued back.

A small sob interrupted the quarrel. "I could have saved Stella if I had been faster," Katlyn, a petite blonde with a shy personality cried.

"It's not your fault Katlyn. There was nothing any of us could do," Diego, a tall, muscular brunette with a sharp jawline and a caring heart reassured her.

"You could have died instead of her," Xena bluntly stated. "But then we would have Stella on our team, who wasn't even competent enough to save herself, let alone humanity."

This sent Katlyn into spasms, her face buried in Diego's shoulder, shaking uncontrollably. Diego looked over at Xena with pleading eyes. *Please* They said *Let her hold on to what little hope she has left*

She understood. Even if she didn't show emotions like other people, she still had them. She nodded, acknowledging the desperate request for her to leave Katlyn be. Diego thanked her with a small smile. Xena looked away.

"Alright Squad Forbes!" The leader received the attention of his squad… which consisted only of the three. "We have to get to Zhiganshina in one piece. From now on our goal is to **stick together**," The last comment was directed at Xena. She glared at him, then kicked her horse forward. The others followed, struggling to keep up with her breakneck speed. They ran into 4 more titans after that, swiftly eliminated by Xena's quick blades.

After trekking through titan-infested lands for hours, they made it back to the walls safely, only to be greeted by violent cries of outrage and pain.

"Where's my son?!"

"Are we really any closer to freedom?!"

" It's all your fault we're starving!"

Squad Forbes kept their eyes forward and their heads down, as it seemed the other squads were doing the same. It was their first expedition, but their faces could have been those of experienced soldiers. When they arrived at HQ, the majority of the soldiers burst into tears, crying for their friends, their comrades, and their loved ones. The 3DMG repair shop was short staffed due to the number of grieving soldiers, so Xena lent a hand. She felt very little sorrow, determination, angst, or pain. She had learned to numb those feelings long ago. She thought of it as a way of keeping her sanity. Yet somehow, containing it was driving her insane.


	2. Chapter 2

"Attention 102"

The 12 remaining members of the 102nd that had joined the Survey Corps weakly saluted. They were truly worn: physically and emotionally. "You will be reassigned squads for our next expedition 6 months from now," The blonde haired, blue eyed commander, Erwin, announced.

"Katlyn Marks, Diego Krinzer, Roger Phillips, and Mark Johnson to Squad Kratz. Arthur Cobb, John Gunning, Zach Skin, and Robert Toll to Squad Erwin. Petra Ral, Gunther Shultz, Oluo Bozado, Eld Jinn, and Xena Foster to Squad Levi. That will be all."

All Xena knew about Lance Corporal Levi was that he was a Lance Corporal (duh) and he was "Humanity's Strongest." If she was taking bets, she would have guessed he was about 7 feet tall with shoulder length blonde hair, twinkly blue eyes, a deep voice that made girls swoon, and a god complex. But that was just a guess. Nobody she knew had ever met him. One thing she knew for sure was that she would hate him. She hated everybody.

Petra, Gunther, Oluo, Eld, and Xena were never actually introduced, despite training together for 3 years. "Hello!" Petra cheerfully greeted. "It's nice to meet you all!"

"I hope you guys aren't cowards." Eld sounded disparaging.

"Of course not!" Oluo said confidently.

"Can't be sure" Gunther added.

All 4 looked at Xena, expecting some input. Well they weren't going to get any. "Yes?" She inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Aren't you going to say 'Hi'?" Gunther sounded annoyed.

"I'm not here to frolic with you morons." She spat back.

All of the sudden, a figure appeared, cutting all conversation off. It was a man; about 20 **(yes, I changed his age) **with black hair that hung into his cold grey eyes, but was shorn in the back. He was about 6'5, (**I changed that too) **muscular, but in a lanky way, with long limbs. He had a sharp nose and jaw and his eyes had clearly seen things you couldn't even dream of. "Who might you shits be?"

His voice was deep and monotonous, with an air of confidence, similar to his expression, which seemed to be a constant scowl. "Excuse you?" Xena looked at the newcomer with disbelief. "What did you just say?"

"Are you deaf? I clearly asked who you pieces of shit were!"

"Who are _you_?" Xena's fuse was short and she was getting frustrated.

"Lance Corporal Levi. And I believe, based on the fact that you're a total shithead, you are Xena Foster. Am I correct?" He sneered, pleased with himself that he had managed to spite the rebel he had heard about from numerous sources.

Xena wasn't having any of it. "Wow. I'm impressed," She said sarcastically. "Listen, I don't care who you are. If you're going to insult me, you can go to hell."

Levi rolled his eyes. "I'm scared." He said, not changing his uninterested expression. "If you wanna fight, Kid, I'm happy to-"

"Woah, woah , woah… hold up a second," She interrupted him mid-sentence. "Kid? Don't act like you're all high and mighty because you're a Lance Corporal. Big fucking whoop!"

"'Scuse me bitch. Do you want to die?"

"That's it bastard. I'm not paying the hospital bills."

Levi turned back to the other 4 that stood with their mouths agape, completely terrified of both. "The rest of you shits clean the headquarters… unless you want to end up like Foster here will in about a minute." He threatened. "And it WILL be spotless!"

Petra, Oluo, Eld, and Gunther nodded and scurried off in fear, not even glancing back. Levi and Xena pulled off their jackets, dropping them on the dirt. Xena pushed her sleeves up, while Levi just pulled his shirt off altogether, revealing a perfect 6 pack, adorned with a few old scars. Okay, she had to admit, he was pretty well built.

"This is so not fair!" Xena complained. He was definitely a more experienced fighter than she. He even had the scars to prove it!

"You could take your shirt off too if you want," Levi suggested.

"Perv," She rolled her eyes and instead took out her hair tie, letting her hair fall down in loose curls.

"Ready bitch?"

"I don't know bastard, are you?"

She gritted her teeth as a boot hit her stomach. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," She grumbled, returning the kick and several punches. *Shit. She's good* Levi thought.

It was unusual for him to actually have to put effort into a fight. He was enjoying it. Xena was also amused by the brawl. She was going to die eventually anyway. She might as well have a little fun. They fought for 34 minutes, the longest anyone had ever fought against Levi. Pretty soon, almost the entire Legion was there, watching the only person that had ever challenged him. "I wonder who she is…" A woman with glasses and dark brown hair named Hanji whispered.

"Probably a street kid. Where else could she learn to fight like that?" The man with light brown hair named Moblit answered.

"That's Xena Foster." Commander Erwin came up behind them. "We have no idea where she came from, but she's a prodigy. She has some attitude problems, nonetheless, she's our best hope."

"You're not going to stop the fight?" Hanji asked.

"Nah. Levi's having fun."

"True. it's not every day Humanity's Strongest Soldier gets his ass kicked."

Xena gritted her teeth as she threw one last punch at his jaw before sweeping her leg under him and knocking him to the floor. "Sorry bastard. Not this time." She pinned him to the dirt, her knees on his stomach and her palms on his shoulders.

"Nice try Bitch." He smirked.

Xena was confused. Nice try-?

_BAM_

All of the sudden, she was on her back, with a fully grown man on top of her. "ow" She mumbled quietly.

Levi snickered. "'Sorry bastard. Not this time'" He said in a falsetto tone, twirling imaginary locks of hair between his fingers.

Xena snorted and kicked him off. "Well Bitch, since I won…" He mocked her.

The crowd dispersed, knowing that anyone who picked a fight with Levi must be angsty. They didn't want to get in her way.

She walked away, picking her jacket up from the floor and gathering her hair back into a ponytail. "Where you goin' bitch? No sarcasm for me?" He said, monotone as ever.

"I'm going to clean headquarters. Just like you said. _Sir_." She said the last word with contempt in both her voice and her eyes.

"Take a shower first shithead. Don't be a pig!"

"Who's going to clean the headquarters?"

"You. After you take a damn shower."

She finally gave in, making her way towards the showers. After a few seconds, she stopped in her tracks and turned around. "Are you coming, or not?" She demanded.

"What?" _*What is she talking about*_

"Don't pretend like you're not going to take a shower. You clearly have some psychological problems when it comes to cleaning. The first thing you had us do was clean. It's obviously important to you, but you have dirt caked to your back and there's sweat all over you. So, are you going to wait for me to leave, or are you going to shower?"

*_Damn, she's good*_

He gathered his shirt and jacket and strode past her. She jogged forward to catch up. "This is your first and only warning Foster. Under this bastard, there is nothing but a bigger bastard. Don't make me pissed."

With that, he turned left into the men's showers. As Xena ventured right, she thought about what he had said. And wondered if it was true.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"_Dad! Please! Don't do this to me!"_

_The little girl with long red hair and bruises speckled over her pale skin was shoved into the corner of a dingy cellar, a burly man with a club standing over her. "Listen to me, you little shit! You __**will **__steal me dinner, or you get a beatin'!"_

_The little girl shrank back into the wall, trying to ignore the stench of alcohol coming from the man. Her mother, long gone, had once been the girl's protector from her monster of a father. All alone, she was utterly helpless. "GO!"_

_She needed no more warnings. She quickly attempted to stand up, hopefully to carry out his wishes, but her legs were far too weak to carry her. Her father brought his leg up to her face and kicked it a few girl slid across the floor, through the tiny room, and landed in front of the broken door. She still couldn't get up. The girl cowered in fear as her father made his way over to her to teach her what was what. The poor little girl laid in place, awaiting the horrible beating she would receive. She let out a final yell before pain flooded her body-_

*gasp*

Xena woke with a start. She hadn't had one of those dreams in a while. They used to scare her when she was younger, but she had gotten used to them. Anxious to forget all about it, she quickly climbed down from her bunk in the room she shared with Petra. A little too quickly. She grunted in agony, feeling the spot on her arm where Captain Levi had kicked her the day before. Her initial instincts had been correct. She hated him, just like she thought she would. Xena looked over to Petra's bunk where Petra was sitting with a mirror, braiding her hair. "Good Morning!" She greeted Xena with a smile.

She received an eye roll. Xena got dressed quickly, racing to the mess hall in hopes of eating early and getting in some extra training time. Unfortunately, her plans were cut short by her stupid captain. "Where are you going?"

He stood in front of her, blocking her path.

"The mess hall **sir**."

"You think you're going to eat breakfast? Please. We're training all day today. You won't eat until tomorrow."

"Whatever Bastard."

Levi glared at her, then walked to the gym to prepare for the day's training.

**6 hours later**

"Move it you little scumbags!"

Xena sighed as she ran her 25th mile. She wasn't tired; just bored. She grinned in amusement as Oluo and Eld dropped to their knees in exhaustion. They had already lost Petra miles back. Levi whipped the reigns of his horse, urging it to keep up with Xena's speed. Gunther was not far behind her, but was running out of steam fast. "Aaaarrrg!" Gunther cried as he collapsed, unable to run any further. Xena didn't even look behind her and just kept running. From his horse, Levi smirked at her confident smile. She had managed to run the farthest out of everyone. Finally, after 36 miles, she stopped in front of headquarters, propping herself against the wall. Levi pulled his horse up to where she stood. "Only 36?"

Leave it to The Bastard King. **Only **36 miles? "Sorry to disappoint you. I was about to faint, so I figured I should probably stop running," She retorted, words dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh, so if you're running away from a titan and you think you're going to faint, you'll just stop?"

"I could never outrun a titan,"

"Sometimes, people have do crazy things to save their lives."

His words startled her. It was almost as if he knew what they would mean to her. Levi got off the horse and led it back to the stables, watching Xena follow him out of the corner of his eye. He had said that to find out more about her. Based on her reaction, he knew that she must have had to fight for her life at some point. If he was taking bets, he would probably say she was from the Underground. "Why are you following me?"

"The stables are in the same direction as the gym."

She walked past him, making her way over to the gym. When she arrived, she changed into sweatpants and a sports bra, bound her knuckles in tape, and began to punch the punching bag as hard as she sound of her clenched fists hitting the bag echoed in the room, the bag swaying. She continued to punch it for hours, busting the skin open on her knuckles and creating some small cracks in the ceiling above her. When she felt she was done, she simply walked down the hallway, not really caring who saw her. "Put some clothes on shithead!"

Well, anyone but him. The shirtless captain glared at her and gestured towards the jacket in her hands. "Put it on."

"Excuse me. You're not wearing a shirt."

"Neither are you."

Xena snorted and continued down the hallway, navigating her way to her room. God, she hated that captain. When she arrived at her room, she promptly put a crisp white shirt on. It **was** getting a little cold. She unbound her fists, painstakingly pulling strands of tape off of her skin. "ouch," She mumbled quietly.

The last pieces of tape had pulled the newly created scabs off, causing her hands to bleed profusely. She needed bandages. Xena stood up and walked out of her room, navigating her way to the infirmary. When he opened the door, a joyful old nurse with curly silver hair greeted her. "Hello sweetheart! What can I do for you?"

Xena held out her arms. "Oh… I see… Those are going to need some bandaging. But first, the old rule!"

"What rule?"

"We have to alert your captain before we can even give you a band-aid. Who's your captain?'

Xena sighed. "Captain Levi."

"Alright! Castor!" She called.

A scrawny boy of about 14 appeared, presumably Castor. "Yes Ma'am?"

"Castor dear, go fetch Captain Levi from his office, would you? Tell him Ms. Foster is injured."

Castor nodded and left the room to go find Levi. A few minutes later, Levi appeared in the doorway, holding Castor up by his collar. He tossed Castor into the room and walked forward. "What did you interrupt me for? Do you have a boo boo?" He whined, looking at Xena.

She rolled her eyes and held her hands out towards him. He glanced at her knuckles briefly, then said, "Drug her all you want."

The nurse was mortified. "We don't need to do **that**. All she needs is some rubbing alcohol and a few bandages."

"What did she do anyway?"

All eyes turned to Xena. "Punching bags aren't exactly soft," She explained.

Levi tched and left the room. The nurse smiled and began to clean the cuts on Xena's hands. "He likes you," She remarked.

"What?" Xena looked up in shock. "What makes you say that?"

"He never comes when we call him. When I mentioned you, he came."

"I'm a valuable team member," Xena flattered herself.

The nurse raised her eyebrows and finished up. "You come back now hun! And don't worry. He'll warm up to you!"  
>Xena stormed down the hall, enraged anyone could even suggest such a thing.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_The boy gripped the handle of his knife. He was young, only about 7 or 8 years old with unruly shoulder length black hair that desperately needed grooming. His clothes were dirty and ragged, matching his skin. A huge gash in his leg dripped bright red into a puddle on the worn wooden floorboards next to his bare feet. A few feet away from the puddle of his blood was another puddle of someone else's. A man is his 50's laid on the floor, matted orange hair sprawled out on the ground, drenched in a sticky substance. His blue eyes stared at the cracked ceiling of the small room he had called home before he met his unfortunate end. The stench of alcohol hung over the man's mouth, his last drink in this world. The boy smiled revealing a small set of perfect little white teeth. He wiped the kitchen knife on his torn pants. This wasn't his first kill and wouldn't be his last. He glanced down at his bleeding leg and sat down to inspect it. He hadn't expected the man to fight back and he certainly hadn't expected him to have a switchblade in his pocket. The boy was lucky to get away with just a flesh wound. Upon closer inspection, it had gone a little deeper than he had originally thought. It would need medical attention or his leg would need to be sliced off with a- "Do you… need help?" A timid voice called._

_The boy jumped up, thrusting his knife towards the voice, struggling to hide his grimace of pain. When he saw who had called out to him, he slowly lowered the knife. A small girl, a few years younger than him, with long red hair stood across the room. Her dress was even filthier than his clothes with dried blood caked onto the side. Her skin was covered in cuts and bruises and the blood on the dress most likely came from her own body. She glanced wearily at his knife for a moment, and then locked her royal blue eyes with his grey. When he saw the fear in them, he quickly dropped it on the floor. Both children stood a good distance from each other afraid of what the other might have in store for them. The boy hadn't seen her when he arrived, but since there were no other rooms in the house, she must have witnessed the man's murder. It occurred to him that the man was probably her father. He looked up at her eyes again, hoping to convey sympathy. But what he saw weren't the eyes of an innocent little girl. There was something wild about them, a little insane, like the eyes of an assassin. Like his eyes. Suddenly, he was suspicious. Who was she? "Who are you?" He asked accusingly._

_The girl smiled and limped forward a few steps. It seemed she had some sort of injury in her hip. That was where the blood was coming from. "You're very good," she replied in her sweet little voice._

"_You didn't answer the question," he countered roughly, taking a step back._

"_You were very hard to find," She continued, not paying his interjection any mind. "But it was well worth the search."_

_The boy stared at the girl with wide eyes, stepping backwards until the wall pressed against his back. The girl continued towards him, momentarily bending down to pick up the knife that he had dropped. She didn't stop until she was less than an inch away from him. He noted that she only came up to his chest. When he saw the mad spark in her eyes, he was sure that he was going to die. In the Underground, people died all the time, killed by an assassin, starvation, or even their own hands, left in the streets to rot. He never thought he would be one of them, at least not this soon, at least not this way, at least not by the hands of a little girl that was hardly old enough to tie her shoes let alone kill someone. "I would have done it myself," She whispered softly into his ear standing on tiptoe to reach it. "But I didn't want the blood on my hands."_

_With that, she lifted the knife and threw it back over her shoulder. It flipped in the air before landing on a picture of her father, hung up on the wall. The boy gasped. The knife hit the picture in the exact spot he had stabbed the man. He glanced down at the girl frantically. What else was she capable of? Was he next? Would she-_

Levi woke with a gasp. He hated dreams like that because of their realistic characteristics. Half the time, he wasn't even sure if it was just a dream or a memory of his troubling childhood. A childhood he would rather forget. He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed before standing up.

BANG

**Shit** When standing up, he hit his head on the beam suspended over his bed. He hated this room. Rubbing the back of his head, he walked over to the dresser and pulled out… there were no more shirts. He huffed and walked out of his room shirtless, kicking the wall on his way. The people in the room next door covered their heads as plaster showered down on them. Levi trudged down the hall with a scoff. This was the second day in a row he had run out of shirts. **UGGGH **His life sucked. And he swore to god if he saw that little shit Foster he would-

"Put on some clothes **captain**," Xena mocked, using his words from the day before.

She walked up from behind him and brushed his hair forwards with her fingertips. Levi recoiled then side-kicking her in the shin. Hard. She hardly even moved. "Well 'good morning' to you too," she said, rolling her eyes, then turning into the cafeteria. Levi continued down the hallway, brushing his hair incessantly, trying to rid himself of whatever germs she had given him. He arrived in front of Erwin's door, and pounded it as hard as he could with his fist. "ERWIN! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

Erwin opened it quickly, knowing that Levi wasn't one to be patient and would bang the door down if it wasn't opened for him. "Yes?"

Erwin raised a thick eyebrow, glancing at Levi's bare chest, then at his face. "Give me a shirt."

"Way to be polite," Erwin said, smiling slightly at his vulgar friend. Levi rolled his eyes and shoved past him, going up to the wooden dresser and forcing the drawers open. "You know those are going to be too small on you, right?" Erwin reminded him.

"I don't care!"

After rummaging through the top drawer, then the bottom, Levi finally found what he was looking for. However, once he pulled on the shirt, he found the sleeves only went slightly past his elbows. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he proceeded to button the shirt, finding that he could only button the first 2. "Erwin, I swear to god!"

"Oh come on!" Erwin practically yelled back. "You're gigantic!"

He looked at Levi's frame that towered 5 inches above his own and bulged with muscles. Levi growled, pushed him out of the way, and stormed out.

"Hey Shorty!"

Not Hanji! Not only was she absolutely insane but she also had a completely moronic nickname for him, especially because he was at least a foot taller than her. "I saw that newbie kick your ass in that fight the other day!"

He was never going to hear the end of this. "So… I was wondering if you would…maybe… let me have her in my squad…"

"Fuck no."

Hanji had obviously anticipated this answer and countered before the words were fully out of his mouth. "But why not? I mean you obviously hate her for pummeling you and…OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SHIRT!?"

"This is Erwin's. All of mine are ruined," He said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Hanji giggled for a little bit, and then remembered why she was talking him. "But seriously, she could be a valuable member on my team and-"

She kept talking but Levi was no longer listening. He pushed her shoulder with his finger, causing her to stagger out of his way. She continued to plead with him as he walked away but he had completely blocked her out. "The answer is no!" he called back.

Fuming now, he stalked up to the cafeteria door. Then, lifting his knee, he knocked it off its hinges. Every single soldier looked at him in shock, some with food still in their gaping mouths. Levi broke the silence immediately. "SQUAD LEVI! MOVE YOUR BUTTS OUT!"

The 5 soldiers shuffled to the door, annoyed, ignoring the eyes of the other soldiers that were trained on them. Levi turned around and began walking, expecting his squad to follow. Walking around the fallen door carefully, Xena ran to keep up with him. "May I ask where we are going?"

"No you may not."

Levi tore down the hall to the door leading outside and threw it open, leading the group to the 3DMG shed. "Get your gear," He ordered.

While his subordinates adjusted their straps, Levi explained what they would be doing. "Kill all the cardboard titans. Whoever kills the most is the winner."

"That's not fair!" Petra whined. "Xena's just going to win!"

"Well isn't that just too bad for you," Xena snarled.

Levi glanced over at her with a look that wasn't quite disapproving, but not exactly approving either. Xena looked back with a determined expression. His gaze shifted to all of the soldiers, checking to see if they had their gear on. Once he saw that they were all ready, he gave them the signal… which was a monotone "readysetgo."

Xena and Gunther were immediately gone, the others following behind them. Levi sighed and strapped his own gear on. Just in case they decided to fight with each other. He hooked onto a tree branch and shot up, leaving a burst of gas behind. Sitting on the branch contently, he watched the titans being sliced into pieces. **Let's see how they do.**

A burst of gas shot out of Gunther's tank. He knew he could never keep up with Xena but he figured he might as well try to beat the others. He spotted a titan out of the corner of his eye, set up about 30 feet away. Surging towards it, he was about to slice it when a grappling hook hit the titan and Xena came spinning in. After twirling for momentum, she chopped the foam on the back of the titan's neck. She exhaled with satisfaction, pushed off of the cardboard with her legs, then shot off to find her next kill.

She had already gotten 10, but she didn't know how many there were, so she had to make sure she got as many as possible. Spotting 2 titans across from each other, she smiled in determination. She was sure she could get both of them. To make it even harder, there was already someone after each of the titans; Eld on the right and Petra on the left. Piece of cake.

Xena turned a few flips in the air, then held both blades out to the sides. She flipped again to the left and swung her left arm in a slicing motion to kill the first titan. This caught Eld off guard, causing him to spin out of control and land face first on the forest floor. Xena kept going, turning around and, with one hand, sliced the second titan's neck. Petra was so shocked that she simply forgot to press the gas and was left suspended in the air, swinging back and forth.

Levi watched from his perch about 200 feet away. He doubted she could find the last titan in the-

A figure zipped by and stabbed the foam of the last titan. Xena spun a few more times to show off, then landed on the titan's head, balancing perfectly. "Nice shirt!" she called.

Levi was furious. He ripped a piece of tree bark from the nearest branch, and out of pure rage, threw it at her. She narrowly missed, hooking onto another tree and swinging to get away. Shaking her head at his immaturity, she flew over to the branch across from his, landing with her feet perfectly balanced on the bark. "I'll cut you a deal!" She shouted to him.

"I don't want to make a deal with you."

"Just hear me out," She said, sitting down, swinging her legs over the edge like a child. "If you let me be vice captain, I'll stop bothering you."

Levi rolled his eyes. "Do you **seriously **think that is going to work on me?"

Xena smirked. "It's going to work because if you don't make the deal, I'm going to make your life a living hell."

Levi knew enough about her to see that she would follow through. "If you're going to go there, I have a deal for you too."

"Oh?" Xena raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. The thing is, you can't tell anyone that the only reason I'm doing this is so you leave me alone because that's kind 0f against military rules. Oh, and you have to take up stable cleaning for a month."

She groaned. "Fine. But none of this takes effect until you tell Erwin I'm vice captain. And your shirt is still-"

"Do you want to be vice captain or not?"

She groaned again. Levi jumped off of the branch he sat on and landed on the ground with flat feet. "By the way," He called back up to her. "You have to apologize for treating me so horribly."

"Oh _amazing valiant captain! _I have been _soooo_ _disrespectful_. Please _forgive _me."

Amused with the reaction he had managed to incite, Levi giggled uncharacteristically. "Not good enough!"

With that, he picked up a pine cone and chucked it at her, producing a high pitched shriek. "YOU BASTARD!"

She wasn't going to have any of it. As quickly as she could, she grabbed handfuls of pine cones from the branches. On the forest floor, Levi was laughing, practically falling over in his amusement… until he was interrupted by a hit on the head. "What the..?"

He rubbed his temple, no longer laughing. All of the sudden, he was pelted by pine cones. "What the fuck Foster?!"

"I'm sorry captain. Did you not hear the agreement correctly? All of the agreements we made are void until you tell Erwin that I'm vice captain. Meaning I can throw all the pine cones I want at you."

Levi gave a small laugh, then gathered a few pine cones of his own.

Meanwhile, Erwin sat in his office, watching the whole account and smiling to himself.


End file.
